


kiss me (it’s beginning to snow)

by ohvictor



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Implied Vampires, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 08:48:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15457638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohvictor/pseuds/ohvictor
Summary: It’s a tough job weaving their way through the packed station to reach the outside, and then the street isn’t much better, except now it’s started to snow. Rei produces a black parasol and opens it above their head.“You don’t need that,” Koga insists. “It’s not even snowing that hard.” When Rei ignores him, he persists, “C’mon, you look like an asshole.”“I am an asshole,” Rei says, finding Koga’s hand with their free one and squeezing his cold fingers.





	kiss me (it’s beginning to snow)

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to my "rei and koga go christmas shopping together" fic. i have been working on this (on and off) since december when it was somewhat more weather appropriate, and now it is july and 90°F every day where i live. in writing this it's been nice to imagine snow. 
> 
> rei is nonbinary as usual (they/them). there's a single reference to arashi with she/her and the name naruko. title is from christmas bells from rent.

At seven, Rei’s alarm goes off, startling them awake from a restless afternoon nap. Three-in-the-afternoon Rei had cheekily named this alarm “Date night ♪”, and it makes Rei’s stomach do a little flip, as if they haven’t been dating Koga for half a year now.

They have to be at Koga’s in an hour, and their face and hair are probably messy from napping. If they take a shower, there’s a chance the warm water will put a spell on them and keep them there soaking until they’re late, so they settle for washing their face and brushing out their hair. They fell asleep in their pajamas, and although they’re not _opposed_ to wearing pajamas out in public, they figure Koga’s worth a little more effort than that, so they exchange baggy sweatpants for leggings and their hoodie for a cute cardigan, and they put on just a little deodorant. Too much and Koga’s senses get overwhelmed. Rei is a good partner, sometimes.

With only a little time to spare, Rei scans their bedroom floor and throws a few potentially important items into a bag, and then drags themself downstairs to chug a cup of tomato juice that is _almost_ filling. They nearly trip putting their boots on and actually do slip down the icy front steps, but once they’re in the car, the drive to Koga’s is happily uneventful.

Rei pulls up in front of Koga’s building, puts the car in park, and gets on their phone to compose a text. What they actually end up sending is a winky face emoji and “greetings” in English, possibly spelled incorrectly. Whatever.

It takes a few minutes for Koga to emerge. Rei alternates between cranking up the volume and the heater in the car, until Koga finally appears and Rei is sweating a little. They sweat more at the sight of Koga’s leather jacket, the one that Rei knows retains Koga’s scent even after laying draped on Rei’s couch for a week, and his hair, fluffy like he’s just showered and then blow-dried it, so he probably smells nice too. Rei wants—

Koga slams the car door shut behind himself, settling into the passenger seat like it belongs to him, spreading his legs easily and kicking one booted foot up on the dash. “Oi, old man. Your car smells like Ricchii and that Hakaze bastard.”

“I wonder why that is,” Rei says. Koga’s scent filling the hot car is making them a little lightheaded. “No hello kiss?”

“Are you calling me a bad boyfriend?” Koga grabs Rei’s collar and pulls them closer so he can crush their mouths together. In the minute it takes them to part, Rei succeeds in shoving their tongue into Koga’s mouth and also ascertaining that he must have showered recently, since his hair is still damp in the back when they sink their fingers into it. Did he rush so he could see Rei sooner? That’s _cute_.

“Asshole,” Koga says, easing back into his seat and buckling in. He looks very smug and only a little disheveled. “We have to go on our date _before_ you can eat me alive, okay?”

“Why,” Rei says, barely stopping themself from whining about it.

“I have to get Christmas presents,” Koga insists. “Can you please turn this music off?”

“You can change it,” Rei says, and starts backing out of Koga’s driveway. Koga worms around in his seat instead. “What are you doing?”

“’m replacing all these other scents with mine, obviously.”

“That’s cute,” Rei sighs. Their heart is doing acrobatics in their chest, with no regard for the fact that they still have to drive all the way to the station. “Have you ever realized how cute you are, puppy?”

“Call me that again and I’m getting out of this fucking car,” Koga tells them cheerfully. He digs in Rei’s glove compartment for the aux cord. “Whoa, is this a CD of my solo shit? Hello?”

“I can’t tell if you are making fun of me for using CDs or for being a good partner,” Rei mumbles.

“All of the above,” Koga says, retrieving the aux cord and shutting off Rei’s music, plunging the car into silence.

Koga toggles the radio buttons as Rei drives off out of the parking lot. By the time they’ve made it back onto the main road, Koga’s cranking up the volume even more on a Muse album he’s playing - from his _phone_ , a technological advancement Rei rarely takes advantage of themself. Koga kicks his other foot up on the dash and folds his hands behind his head and sings along with the music, his English mostly vowels and slurred consonants, like he memorized along with the song rather than knowing the words. Rei almost runs a red light because they’re focusing on the way Koga rolls his r’s.

They make it to the train station in one piece, more or less, and pile out of the car. It’s freezing and Rei tries to hold Koga’s hand, but Koga’s conveniently occupied with digging his pass case out of his bag. It’s Trickstar merch, with little Daikichis printed on it. Rei forgets, every time, that Koga owns something so overwhelmingly adorable, and has to stop walking for a moment to collect themself, doubling over at the station doors like they’ve got a stomachache. Being in love sometimes feels the same.

“Hah! You’re such an old man, can’t even make it across the parking lot without needing a rest,” Koga teases, oblivious to the effect he personally has on Rei’s heart at all times.

“It’s fitting,” they murmur, unable to help themself. “Doggie has a doggie case...”

“Shut the fuck up,” Koga says, already swiping through the turnstile, and Rei hasn’t even gotten their own pass out. “I bet you have a Knights one or some bullshit.”

Rei pulls their pass out of their wallet and sadly swipes through with their naked card. Koga laughs loudly at them.

The station is bustling with other holiday shoppers, and the train they need comes almost immediately, the car so crowded they end up packed together inside the car. Rei leans forward over Koga, plopping their head on Koga’s shoulder. Koga’s ear, now with even more earrings than he’d had when they were in school together, is right in front of their mouth, and they _could_ tug on Koga’s earrings with their teeth, but Rei doesn’t know if any of the piercings are sore.

...and they’re in public.

They settle for fitting themself against Koga’s back and slipping their arms around his belly, sucking his warmth as if they’re that sort of vampire. The train is too crowded and the rattling of the car too loud to hold a conversation, but just holding Koga is good. Warm, and no one is paying attention to them. Rei eyes Koga’s earrings, wondering if their self control will hold for the next seven stops.

After two, the train takes a corner at violent speed and Rei accidentally-on-purpose bumps their nose against Koga’s ear, and Koga hisses, “Can you _behave_ ,” as if Rei can’t _see_ a blush creeping up his neck. They behave, but they hold Koga a little tighter, and if he nuzzles back against them, neither of them say anything about it.

The train slams to a halt at Harajuku, and Rei and Koga gratefully tumble off the train and onto the platform. It’s a tough job weaving their way through the packed station to reach the outside, and then the street isn’t much better, except now it’s started to snow. Rei produces a black parasol and opens it above their head.

“You don’t need that,” Koga insists. “It’s not even snowing that hard.” When Rei ignores him, he persists, “C’mon, you look like an asshole.”

“I am an asshole,” Rei says, finding Koga’s hand with their free one and squeezing his cold fingers.

They set off down the main street, and Rei’s immediately overwhelmed by smells - dozens, maybe hundreds of bodies, warm food, perfumes, the icy scent of snow. They pass a dozen shops before Koga tugs Rei inside one, sandwiched between a cute boutique and a duty-free tech shop, and starts browsing shelves of bags and wallets. Rei, freezing in their cardigan and leggings, retracts their parasol and clings to one of Koga’s arms, which Koga tolerates at first out of some show of boyfriend chivalry until he realizes that Rei is, actually, shivering very badly.

“Why can’t you dress your damn self properly, huh?” he huffs, dragging Rei on to another shelf. He thumbs through a bin of brightly colored scarves and thrusts a red one at Rei. “Buy this.”

Rei looks down at their cardigan (blue) and their leggings (black) and then looks plaintively back at Koga. “It doesn’t match.”

“I _swear to god_ ,” Koga hisses, wrenching his arm out of Rei’s skeleton grasp. He stomps towards the cashier. “I’ll buy this scarf, please!”

He pays while Rei hovers behind him, trying to look like Koga’s cool, suave significant other and not some idiot who packs a parasol but not a coat when it’s fucking freezing out. Despite their best efforts, they feel more like a child waiting for their parent to finish buying them a new toy. When Koga turns back to Rei and shoves the scarf back into their hands, Rei carefully unwinds it and puts it on. Immediately they feel warmed all the way down to their shitty little toes.

“Thank you,” they start to say, and Koga grumbles loudly and pulls them out of the shop, back onto the street. The snow has picked up, thick flakes swirling through the air and catching on people’s hair and coats, and Rei tucks their parasol under one arm and catches snowflakes in the palms of their hands. They try to stick the flakes on Koga’s hair before they melt, but Koga just shoves their hands off.

“Don’t get my hair wet!” he scolds. “C’mon, there’s a shop down there that might have Knights merch.”

“Trying to distract me is unfair,” Rei whines, managing to grab onto Koga’s sleeve before he darts off. They allow themself to be dragged in the direction of the shop Koga spotted, which has several bins of secondhand idol merch. Rei stuffs the parasol back into their bag and digs into one of the bins excitedly, even though they can’t feel their fingers.

Koga watches them, and Rei thinks for a moment Koga might be wearing that sort of gross, sappy expression Rei sometimes realizes they have when they watch Koga do things, but when they look over their shoulder, he quickly summons up a scowl.

“Ricchii would be pissed if he knew you were buying his merch secondhand,” he says.

“I can’t win,” Rei mourns, moving on to a second bin. “He won’t let me buy it officially, but he won’t let me buy it secondhand...”

Koga snorts. “Maybe you just shouldn’t buy it.”

“He likes when I have it, though,” Rei insists. “I can tell. Oh!” They withdraw their hand from the bin and show Koga an old Naruko bromide. “Look at this! Her hair is longer now...”

“Woooow, vintage,” Koga deadpans. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, frowning. When Rei moves on to another bin of Knights merch, he snaps, “Excuse me, I have to go look through the _fine_ bins.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Rei squeaks, turning to face him.

“Yeah,” Koga says, giving up easily. “I’d have to burn it.”

“Hm,” Rei says, stepping away from the bin and approaching Koga, “could it be that you’re jealous that I’m looking at Knights merch on our date?”

“Shut your stupid mouth,” Koga tells them. Rei comes closer, hovering inches from Koga’s face, and watches gleefully as Koga takes a step back and knocks into the shelves behind him.

“Hmmm,” Rei says, reaching for Koga’s hands. They press their palms together, their thin, cold fingers twining with Koga’s warm, calloused ones, and Koga forgets to be mad and looks up at Rei like his heart just started beating for the first time.

“I’m hungry,” Rei says.

“We’re in _public_!” Koga snaps, yanking on Rei’s arm.

“I _meant_ ,” Rei says, “human food,” although Koga is blushing now, which is...tempting. “We could get...” They try to remember a single one of the shops they’d passed earlier when they were distracted by, a, being too cold to exist, or, b, sticking snowflakes in Koga’s hair. “Something...”

“I haven’t even bought any gifts yet,” Koga says. “Except a scarf for your pathetic ass. Let me get in twenty fucking minutes of solid gift shopping and _then_ I’ll buy us food.”

“Counter proposal,” Rei says, flipping their hands so they can run their thumb over the ridges of Koga’s knuckles, “ _I_ buy us food?”

Koga bites his bottom lip, which, Rei thinks childishly, is _their_ job. “Make it half an hour of gift shopping and I’ll consider it.”

It will be a long half hour of gift shopping. Rei follows Koga in and out of several stores, and quickly discovers that looking for gifts of their own is much less entertaining than watching Koga. He’s shopping for his family, his unit and club, and a few other friends, and Rei uses their height advantage to pull down items from shelves Koga can’t see and recommend them for the friends they know, such as Akehoshi (and Daikichi), the Aoi twins, Adonis, Ritsu. They are, mostly, jokes (“you can’t _give_ that to a dog, are you an _idiot_ ,”) but once or twice Koga snatches whatever it is from Rei’s hands and considers it seriously.

Eventually he buys a hair ornament Rei suggested for Yuuta, and Rei feels so warm they wonder if maybe they’re glowing, filling the shop with their weak light. It seems ridiculous that a being of darkness could do that - emit light. Mostly Rei feels like a black hole, sucking light from their surroundings, stealing energy from those who need it more, but... It’s not like that, with Koga. Koga, who is warm without trying, who absorbs light and beams it back at everyone around him. Who else could fill Rei with that light, so much that even Rei can begin to...

They jot down a note about it on their phone. It would make a good song concept, for some night when they’re feeling really in love and not so embarrassed, and even if they never play the song for anyone else, it’s okay. If they played it for Koga, they would probably start crying halfway through and not be able to finish, so it’ll just sit on their hard drive with all their other stupid love letters. That’s okay.

When they’ve finished being foolish in their notes app, they notice there’s only a few minutes left in Koga’s half hour, so they put their phone away and go hang off Koga’s shoulders as he finishes his sweep of this shop, and then they drag him outside and point to the first place they see that sells food. “Let’s go there.”

Koga actually reads the shop signs. “Crepes?”

“Oh,” Rei says. “Yes. Crepes?”

“Yeah, sure,” Koga says. He follows Rei to the queue at the window, juggling the plastic bags now hanging off his arms. Rei fights the urge to steal some of the bags and carry them like a good partner, and also the urge to tickle Koga and see if he drops any of the bags. If it was Ritsu, they absolutely wouldn’t have been able to stop themself, which is one of the many reasons Ritsu hates them, probably.

When they reach the counter, Koga orders a strawberry and whipped cream crepe and turns expectantly to Rei, as if Rei was a functional person and had looked at the menu already to prepare. Put on the spot, Rei points confusedly at the laminated menu on the counter, which turns out to be something with chocolate ice cream.

“You really want that?” Koga says, as Rei slaps a thousand yen bill on the counter. Rei tries to read the ingredients on the sheet, written in criminally tiny print, and shrugs.

“Well,” Koga says finally, “I’m not giving you any of mine,” and grabs a few napkins off the counter. When they get their crepes a few minutes later, Rei finds there’s almonds in theirs as well, which they happily pick out and eat. Koga marches off, already scarfing down the strawberries from the top of his crepe.

They walk back up the street, weaving through the crowds of shoppers, and cross the main street, heading for Yoyogi Park. Once they get past the train station, the crowd thins out considerably, shoppers and vendors giving way to couples walking hand in hand and parents towing children rendered nearly spherical by thick winter coats. The fresh snowfall filters through the trees and blankets equally the grass and the path that weaves through it, resting on top of last week’s snowfall, and their footsteps crunch softly as they walk.

Both of Rei’s hands are occupied by the crepe, so they can’t hold Koga’s hand. It’s also hard to eat while walking, so eventually they find a bench not occupied by snow or people, and as soon as they sit Rei gratefully cuddles up against Koga’s side. They only manage to nibble on their crepe, while Koga devours his the moment they’re seated. His blood will smell sweeter soon, whether it’s just Rei’s imagination or not, and it’s good that his neck is partially covered by clothing, or Rei would nuzzle it.

They toss their crepe and Koga’s wrapper into a nearby trash can and then resume their cuddling efforts. There’s snow in both of their hair, and Koga’s nose has a dab of cream on it from the crepe. Rei swipes it off with their thumb before Koga can get to it, and then they lick their thumb clean, like a cliche, because it makes Koga flush red. When they get back up to walk again, Rei holds Koga’s hand, swinging their arms between them as they walk. Koga tells Rei about his unit activities, and Rei thinks about all the people in Koga’s class who get to see him every day, and hear his voice and his laugh and see all of his expressions, tired and excited and frustrated and bored, and how lucky they are without even knowing.

With their attention on Koga, Rei’s too distracted to pay attention to where they’re walking, and almost walk into a signpost. Koga lunges for their arm and yanks them back, but at the sacrifice of his own balance. Before Rei fully realizes what’s happening, Koga’s skidded on a patch of ice and fallen on his ass into half a foot of snow.

Rei doubles over laughing. Koga sits up, his face red from cold and embarrassment, and yells, “Oi, asshole,” when Rei keeps laughing at him. They hold out their hand to help him up, but Koga bats it away and hauls himself to his feet on his own. He brushes a small shower of snow off his pants and back, and Rei wipes tears from their eyes.

“You’re the worst,” Koga says. His cheeks are red, and there’s no one around. Rei steps close to him and kisses a snowflake off the bridge of Koga’s nose. Koga huffs and reaches for Rei’s face, cups their jaw with his freezing hands and angles Rei’s face so he can press their mouths together in a searing kiss. Everything around them is cold, Rei’s fingers and toes and the tip of their nose and their cheeks the most painfully so, but warmth spreads from Koga’s lips all through Rei’s body, and Rei pushes closer, their chests pressed together, and sucks Koga’s plush bottom lip into their mouth. He tastes faintly like strawberries. Rei feels like they might pass out from how brilliantly dizzy Koga makes them feel.

When they part, Koga doesn’t seem to want to let go of Rei’s face. He pats their cheeks a few times, his cheeks going even redder.

“Is my face steaming?” he huffs, finally removing his hands from Rei’s cheeks. He stuffs his hands in his pockets. “Feels like it is.”

“No,” Rei says faintly, wanting to kiss him again.

“Oh.” Koga takes his hands out of his pockets and reaches for Rei’s, which he holds firmly, even though they can’t keep walking like that. It’s so stupidly endearing that Rei wants to cry. “If you kiss me again, maybe I’ll start steaming.”

“I can kiss you again anyway,” Rei says.

“Okay,” Koga murmurs, tilting his chin up. Something in Rei’s chest swells and swells, so much they feel like they’ll burst. They kiss Koga again, impossibly warm.

**Author's Note:**

> not that this is particularly significant, but i have been to harajuku and yoyogi park, so i have some degree of experience beyond googling here. i was there in may, though, and did not buy any crepes.
> 
> i'm on twitter @meiodyinthedark if you wanna hmu!


End file.
